Advertisement

Bad news for HTC in Germany as sales ban looms

Bad news for HTC and fans of its products in Germany: The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday said that the company faces an injunction against sales of its products following a patent lawsuit filed by Acacia Research Group that covered “voice coding technology.”

A court ruled in favor of Acacia Research Group, which was seeking to prevent Deutsche Telekom from selling HTC smartphones after the company failed to reach a licensing agreement for the “standard-essential” patent. Other firms, including Apple and Samsung, had agreed to license Acacia’s patents, The Wall Street Journal said.

The ban on sales may begin as soon as later in December, the news outlet said, though HTC apparently has plans to appeal the ruling in an effort to continue sales.

HTC clearly decided not to license the patent for a reason, and an appeal might bring that reason to light. Or, perhaps it will reach a deal with Acacia before too much damage from lost sales is done.

Advertisement

Todd Haselton has been writing professionally since 2006 during his undergraduate days at Lehigh University. He started out as an intern with...Todd Haselton has been writing professionally since 2006 during his undergraduate days at Lehigh University. He started out as an intern with...